The Status of Social Capital of the Iranian people

Social capital is a complex and multi-dimensional construct and concept, and it implies to a phenomenon that the main source of its creation is the sphere of social interaction. Social capital can be considered as the sources that has been created as a result of social relationships in the past, and at the present time, it facilitates collective action. In this study, we seek to describe the status of social capital, based on the four main constituent components: social trust, social relations network, social participation and social norms in Iran, in 2014-2015 (1393). This research is a quantitative-descriptive study that was conducted through survey and questionnaire tools in a cross-sectional study in December 2014 and January 2015 (Azar and Dey 1393). The population of the study includes people aged 15 years and older living in urban and rural areas of Iran. In this research, by systematic random sampling and cluster sampling, 37,200 people were selected as sample from all over Iran. The findings showed that the people of Iran have more trusting to the individuals and groups closest to themselves; are more participation in the collective activities of these groups; and if needed, they provide more social support to these people. We can conclude from this study that the status of bonding social capital (within a group) and bridging social capital (between groups) in Iran is different and people have more bonding social capital than bridging social capital.